Thoughts On Today's Technology And Other Updates

[chelseajmunoz]

You know, I've been thinking a lot about how people's lives have changed with devices like Alexa being developed. I mean there's a skill that can be enabled on Alexa where people can order his or herself a Starbucks coffee then pick up his or her coffee at the Starbucks that's in his or her current area. People can also purchase accessories for Alexa that will allow Alexa to turn off and on those people's lights, change the temperature of his or her thermostat or probably do about any other thing that someone could imagine. Yet none of those things that I've mentioned Alexa can do are things that will help people be more productive. I suppose that people could argue that being able to have Alexa order his or her coffee from Starbucks helps him or her be productive but in some ways I think technology like Alexa makes human beings lazier. I actually had a friend of mine tell me that he's thought that's been true for a while but it hasn't been until just recently that I've given his perspective some thought myself. I definitely think he's right in some ways because it's so convenient for people to do things with his or her phones or technologies like Alexa. Yet today's technology also makes people lose his or her brain power. For example gone are the days that people memorize phone numbers because today's technology has made it easier than ever to access numbers through people putting numbers into his or her phones. It's just interesting to think about this sort of thing because I've been fortunate to live in a time where I've gotten to see a lot of different technologies and understand how those technologies influence the world around me. I've been forgetting to mention that since I left my last apartment in San Antonio Texas I haven't had trouble with regards to using the internet on my Mac. Because as my blog readers may remember when I lived at my apartment in San Antonio Texas I wrote in my blog about the fact that I often had to restart my Mac because my home internet booted me out regularly. Seriously! The internet at that particular apartment was so shitty that I could barely even use FaceTime on my Mac. So needless to say I'm glad that I don't have to deal with that crap anymore. Hopefully when I get another apartment I won't run into that crap again. That would suck. I've also been forgetting to mention that a friend and I've been watching a Netflix original show with one another that's called Ozark. That particular show is about a guy who money launders and his boss is someone from a Mexican drug cartel. At first Ozark didn't seem interesting to me but the more I kept watching that particular show the more the show grew on me. Unfortunately though my friend and I finished watching all of season one of Ozark a little while after I'd written my last blog entry yesterday. I'm not sure if there will be another season of the show but I'm hopeful that there is because the last episode of season one was a cliff-hanger. A little while after my friend and I'd finished watching Ozark with one another I received a call from a gym that wants my money. I called said gym a few minutes later to ask them to please put me on that particular gym's do not call list because I have other priorities at the top of my list right now. The lady I spoke with said that she'd put me on that particular gym's do not call list. Hopefully she's true to her word. A little while after I'd gotten off the phone with the lady from a local gym in this state a friend asked me if I wanted to go grocery shopping with him. I told I didn't want to go grocery shopping with him because I knew shopping would take more than an hour's time. I then suggested to him that if he wanted me to go grocery shopping with him some other time what we could do is I could make a list on my phone of some things that he and I'd need from the store and he could make a list on his phone of some things that he and I'd need from the store. I then told him that both grocery store lists could be different. That way we could both do what we can to ensure that everything that's needed from the grocery store gets purchased. My friend said that what I'd suggested was a good idea. While my friend was at the store I read a blog entry that a lady posted on her blog. In the blog entry she'd written she talked about the fact that a website called The Zone was going to be shutting down soon. For those who don't know what The Zone is, it's an online community where blind people would often go to play games like Hangman, Anagrams and other assorted games. The Zone also has message boards where people could post about a wide variety of topics such as questions about how to complete daily living tasks as a blind person, dating and relationship advice or any number of other things that a person can think of. That being said though The Zone was not strictly made up of blind people. There were also sighted people on that particular website who'd add their perspective to things posted on The Zone message boards. Since I've been a member of that particular website since its beginning days I immediately logged onto The Zone after I'd read that lady's blog entry about that particular website shutting down. In my younger days The Zone was an outlet for me. What I mean in saying that The Zone was an outlet for me is that being a part of that particular website allowed me to get away from the shit I was dealing with every day in the real world. Logging onto The Zone was a great way for me to destress and also to be able to express myself in many different ways. There were many Zone users who have never liked my personality because even in my younger days I was quite outspoken about who I was and about the opinions I had on subjects I felt passionate about. Nowadays though I can honestly say that while I appreciate The Zone for what it was to me at one time I certainly won't miss it. I've made several friends from that particular website (some of the friends I've made from The Zone I've met in person but other friends I've made from The Zone I've never met in person). Certainly the friends I've made on The Zone I have his or her contact information so I won't be out of touch with those people even though the website that brought us together will no longer exist. I don't know if my friendships with the people I met through The Zone will be life-long friendships but what I do know is that I treasure each Zone user's friendship for the great memories that each Zone friendship has given me and continues to give me. A little later in the evening I saw that one of my FB friends invited me to an FB page that was created for The Zone. As I've said in this blog entry alone I don't feel the same way about The Zone that I did when I was a young teenager who felt like she had nowhere to turn for help and love from other people. I'm at a much different place in my life now where developing friendships online with people that I don't know personally is not something I really value. Like, being a member of The Zone FB page won't add anything meaningful into my life that I don't already get from actual people I see regularly. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but I truly value actually talking to people in-person over communicating with people online. Because when a person talks to another person that he or she's physically in the presence of, those two people can truly establish a connection with one another. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all against message boards or other ways of people getting answers to questions online if he or she thinks that sort of thing will be a helpful method of accomplishing things. If there are people in the world who feel that communicating with other people online is best for him or her that's no problem. I'm just saying that for me personally I don't find online contact with people as much of a priority in my own life as it used to be because I have so many different resources available to me nowadays that I didn't have available to me in my younger days. Later yesterday evening a friend and I talked about the fact that I really need to have a washer and dryer in the place I live in because it's damn near impossible for me to carry a laundry bag since I use a cane in each hand. So that friend of mine suggested that I look into renting a room from someone because people who rent rooms to other people probably have washers and dryers in his or her houses. Another reason I may need to live with a roommate is because this particular state is really expensive to live in. Whereas San Antonio Texas was not expensive to live in at all, especially because I could only pay a certain amount of money for the apartment I rented there. This morning I had a rude awakening because someone rang the doorbell at my friend's apartment. The person who rang the doorbell was a maintenance man who'd come to fix the shower doors that were very hard to move because they seemed like they were stuck. I'd been telling my friend ever since I'd been in this new state that he should have his shower door fixed because there was no reason why he should struggle to open and close his shower doors. He'd told a couple people who work at his apartment complex a few times that he'd needed the shower door to be fixed. Yet a maintenance guy from his apartment complex just got around to fixing the shower door this morning. Still at least that particular issue was finally taken care of. Shortly after the maintenance guy from my friend's apartment had left I received a call from the housing assistance agency that I'd been referred to by someone who attends the community college I'm going to attend this summer. The guy from that particular agency talked to me for a few minutes and it turned out that I couldn't get help from that particular agency because that agency only helps youth who are going to college find housing. However the guy gave me a number to a housing assistance agency who apparently helps adults who are going to attend college find housing. So as soon as I'd gotten off the phone with the first housing assistance guy I called the number he'd given me. Unfortunately though no one answered at the housing assistance number he'd given me. I tried to get through to that number a couple times but had no luck doing so. Shortly after I'd called that number a second time I took a shower. The shower door was nice and easy for me to open and close. After I'd gotten out of the shower I enjoyed a cup of coffee with my friend. While I was in the middle of drinking my coffee though I received a phone call from Samsung. The lady I spoke with from Samsung informed me that she was going to see if that particular company could replace the charging pad that I'd purchased last August. I then told her that it was my understanding that that particular charging pad had been recalled. She said she didn't have anything in her system that indicated that that particular charging pad had been recalled. Still she could not say for sure whether Samsung would end up sending me a new charging pad or a gift card. Maybe it was a bad idea for me to say I'd like Samsung to send me a replacement charging pad if possible. Yet maybe it was okay that I said that because there's no telling what Samsung will actually do. Before I'd gotten off the phone with the lady from Samsung I asked her to verify that I'm set up to receive text alerts from Samsung that will notify me of the status of the gift card or the replacement charging pad that Samsung sends me. The lady said that I'd been set up to receive text alerts from Samsung as I'd requested. Shortly after I'd gotten off the phone with the lady from Samsung I Googled the name of the housing assistance place that helps adults find housing. I found that particular agency right away and it turned out that that particular agency is a shelter for people who have been through domestic violence situations or people who are homeless. Unfortunately that particular agency didn't have a link where I could email that particular agency. So I'm just going to have to keep calling that particular agency until I get an answer as to whether that agency would be able to help me find housing or not. Since today is President's Day though I don't expect to be able to talk to anyone from that particular agency today.